Reign of Fire
by Lady Arachnia
Summary: Ember Phoenix is an orphaned Hero heading to Sky High. Dark and trying times are ahead for her as friends turn on her and her life is turned upsidedown with this one thing called...love? When villains threaten, who can she trust?
1. New School, New Year

**HAHA!!! I got it up! Finally..I know it took forever, but my compy was being stupid and I have exams to study for. Stupid exams...**

**Please review this chappy even though it's only a redone first chappy.**

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The door to my bedroom opened. "Ember Pheonix! Get your lazy butt out of bed this instant!" 

"G'way….." I moaned, rolling over and pulling the pillow over my head.

"Ember! Today is the first day of Sky High! Get up!" My adopted mom yanked the blanket off my head.

"All right, I'm up." I growled, rolling unceremoniously out of bed.

I grabbed the nearest towel from the hall cupboard and padded into the bathroom. I clambered into the shower and let the hot water run over my skin and the steam envelope me in a world all my own.

My calm was interrupted by the usual torrent of shrieks and pounding on the bathroom door. I hated the other girls in the house, but they were my adopted parents' natural children, born only 6 months after taking me in. The girls? They were triplets. Two sets of them, born at the same exact time. Let me explain this better. My adopted parents are both Super Heroes. Dad is a Changeling and Mom, well Mom is a Divider. When Mom was pregnant she mistakenly divided and when she did, she gave birth. At that same exact moment so did the copy, but the big problem was, even when she gathered in her copy the children didn't come with. So she was stuck with six identical girls. All preppy blondes with big blue eyes, slim figures, and, of course, perfect skin. They all have the same power too and work great as a team. They're all water babies. Yuck, but whatever.

What about me? Well, I'm kinda pretty I guess, I've had a couple of guys, but nothing big. I have the long black hair that is kind of wavy and emerald green eyes that turn gold when I am angry or transforming. See, I'm kind of a Transformer and Flame-thrower crossbreed or something like that. My Transformed shape is a Pheonix and I can create huge balls of fire.

"Ember! Get out!" Cassidy whined at the door.

I jumped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around myself, carefully hiding a comb and the hairdryer in the folds. Otherwise I would never see them again. Then I opened the door to find six very disheveled blondes in the hallway.

"What took you so long?" Caty spat at me.

"Some of us have to take a shower you know." I sneered back, shoving her into her other sisters before stalking off into my room. I bolted the door shut, they would soon realize the hairdryer was missing.

I opened my closet.

"What to wear." I muttered staring into the wardrobe full of black clothes. "How about a dress today?" I muttered to myself, pulling out a black gown. It looked kind of gothic, but what the heck, it rocked. The top was fishnet so I stuck a black mid-drift shirt underneath. The fishnet sleeves were off the shoulder and ran all the way down to my wrists where they belled out. The skirt was floor-length and had little chains and spider webs all over. I pulled on some fingerless, black silk gloves and black platform boots to complete the ensemble. Then came the make-up. I carefully lined my eyes with black eyeliner and brushed on a little red eye shadow. Then I just slapped on a little dark lip-gloss. It looked perfect, a little gothic, but whatever. My long black hair had dried and now hung in flowing waves down my back. It was time.

I sighed and slipped carefully out the door of my room with my book bag.

Three of the six blondes were still jostling each other for entrance to the bathroom.

The way to the stairs was clear and I made a mad dash for it.

Mom stood in front of the stove, well one of her did anyway. The others were scattered throughout the house as usual, cleaning or helping cook. Dad was sitting at the table, reading the morning paper.

"Dad, you've got bull's horns again." I said flopping down across the table from him.

"Drat!" He muttered concentrating on getting them to shrink back into his skull.

Mom placed a plate of French Toast in front of me. "Where are your sisters?" She asked, heading back to the stove.

"Upstairs as usual, fighting over the bathroom." I dumped a spoonful of Powdered Sugar on my toast and dug into the stack.

"Nice outfit, Ember." My "twin" Crystal said, giving me a small smile, "Try getting up earlier, they aren't attacking the door at five."

I glared at Crystal. "I am NOT, repeat NOT, getting up at five just to beat them! I usually get in there first anyway."

Let me explain my relationship to Crystal. Crystal is another adoptee of the fam. Mom's first pregnancy ended in the still birth of a set of twins. To keep her from completely falling to pieces, Dad convinced her to adopt two little girls, Crystal and Ember. Both of us were at the orphanage, having both lost our parents in a fight that ended in the deaths of three Heroes (Both of my parents and Crystal's dad. No one knows where her mom went.) and Baron Battle landing in solitary. Crystal is similar to me in looks, well, sort of. She has long black hair and pale skin, but instead of green eyes, she has icy blues eyes. Crystal has power over ice. And it shows in her appearance. See, Crystal was born with, wouldn't you know it, crystals entangled in her hair and on her eyelashes. She looks literally frozen. The overall effect of the crystals is stunning but she says it's terribly uncomfortable to sleep with. Boys go crazy over her, but she's really only been with one guy.

"Whatever." Crystal said, shrugging as she buried her face in her book again.

I smiled and glanced over Crystal's outfit. Hers looked a lot like what she wore every other day. She wore a black skirt and a black tank top over a long-sleeved light blue shirt. A few sequins showed on the skirt and tank, but not as many as you'd expect. She had silvery eye shadow and lip-gloss on to complete her ensemble.

By the time I had finished the first of the six girls had appeared in the kitchen.

"I'd like a piece of whole wheat toast with fat-free grape jam, a fried egg, light on the oils, and some fresh squeezed orange juice." She said haughtily.

Mom turned around," No, you will eat the same thing as the rest of us. I'm sick and tired of fixing 7 different meals in one sitting." She set a stack of French Toast on the table at her daughter's spot.

"But Mom!" Caty whined," Think about how many calories are in that!"

"Tough beans." Mom said turning right back to the stove.

I glanced up at the clock. "Oh my gosh!" I shouted, snatching up my bag," We are so late! The bus is going to leave without us!" I kissed Mom and Dad on the cheek before dashing out the door.

Crystal followed me out at a similar pace, her hair crystals catching the light.

Footsteps pounded down the steps in a mad dash for the bus stop.

"Whew, made it." I breathed as I jumped onboard.

"You new?" There was a pause," Are you all new students?" The bus driver asked skeptically.

"Sadly yes." I replied rolling my eyes as the still scrambling blondes behind me. He smiled sympathetically and motioned me onto the bus. I moved towards the back and flopped down in an empty seat.

Crystal sat next to a girl she'd been talking to about Sky High at the park a few weeks ago named Magenta.

Finally all six girls were loaded on and we drove off down the street.

A few minutes later we made another stop to pick up a brown-haired boy and this girl with bright red hair.

The only empty seats left on the bus were next to this bleach-blonde guy and me.

"Hey, Zach." The guy said sitting down next to him.

The girl sat down next to me. "Hi, my name's Layla. Are you a freshman?" She held out her hand.

I took it. "I'm Ember, and I'm technically not a freshman. I'm actually a senior, but was homeschooled."

Layla nodded knowingly. "This is Will Stronghold, my boyfriend." She said grinning at me expectantly.

I cocked an eyebrow.

"OH MY GOSH! DID YOU JUST SAY WILL STRONGHOLD?" All six blondes screamed at the same time.

I groaned and sank down into my seat.

Will went pale as all six leapt at him in one second.

Just then, the bus took off and the girls flew to the back of the bus.

I grinned as they smashed into the back window.

Not long after take-off we landed on the grounds of Sky High. I got off the bus with the rest of the kids and headed straight inside to see Principal Powers. She immediately sent the girls, Crystal, and me to Coach Boomer.

"How many of you are there?" He asked without looking up. "Eight." We all said at once. He looked up. "All right girl, get back into one body."

"Umm, Coach." Crystal said softly," They are in one body. They're identical sisters."

He groaned. "Do you all have the same powers?" He asked them.

They nodded.

He looked at them expectantly. "WELL WHAT IS IT?" He boomed when they didn't say anything.

The preps jumped. "Oh, we're all Aquamarines." Cassidy said proudly.

"More of you? Heroes." He dismissed them. "Now, what's your name?"

I glanced at Crystal, signaling her to go for it.

"Crystal Storms." She paused a moment before continuing, "I control ice."

"Hero," Coach Boomer said, scribbling her placement on his clipboard. He handed Crystal a schedule and waved her out of the office.

"I'm Ember Pheonix, Coach."

He nodded knowingly. "Your parents were good friends of mine. It's a pity Fire-Flower and Sky-Racer didn't survive the attack."

I smiled ruefully. "You're telling me. I'm the one stuck with six screaming blondes. So anyway," I said, abruptly changing the subject, "My powers are Flame-throwing, Flight, and Transformation." I demonstrated my transformation into a Pheonix.

Again he nodded. "Definitely Hero." Coach Boomer answered," I hope to see you crush a couple of guys that have gotten too cocky where 'Save The Citizen' comes in. Namely Will Stronghold."

I smiled and shrugged," My pleasure."

The Coach waved me out of the office with my schedule.


	2. Enter the Hottie

**So I've suddenly gotten the urge to work on this story again. I just watched Sky High again, so yeah. I was re-reading some of the previous comments I'd gotten before beginning to revise the story and started over. To the girl who made the comment about making the blondes a bit smarter, I'm a blonde by birth. So were all of my best friends when I started writing this story. So yeah, I've got nothing against blondes. But I'll work on their personalities. **

Let's put it this way, I was bored. When I get bored I tend to get into trouble. Anyone who's ever known me for any length of time knows this. They still don't like it, but they've got to deal with it. That's just me. However, Mr. Medulla doesn't want to deal with my way of coping with boredom. Neither does Principal Powers for that matter.

"Miss Phoenix!" Mr. Medulla snapped irritably as I set a third bit of fungus of fire. He was beginning to look slightly cross-eyed from the fumes.

I started to wonder if this particular type of fungus was hallucinogenic, or at least enough to make someone high. I was about to set another piece on fire when Principal Powers arrived. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about the fumes. Though they seemed only to be affecting Mr. Medulla. At least he was the only one staggering about the classroom with a slightly dazed look on. Everyone else found the whole thing highly amusing.

"Miss Phoenix!" Principal Powers said loudly. She looked positively furious. I held back a small grin. She looked so funny when she was ticked off.

A shock of black and blonde hair appeared in the doorway behind Principal Powers. A young man poked his head around Principal Powers. He sniffed a bit at the air before smirking in my direction. He flashed a thumbs up sign at me before he ducked back out of the room.

I stared after him, completely ignoring everything going on around me. I followed Principal Powers out of the classroom in hopes of glimpsing the guy again. He was nowhere to be seen, much to my disappointment. I didn't really care when I was given detention for making Mr. Medulla high. I was still thinking about that guy. It wasn't everyday I could see incredibly sexy guys smiling at me.

I have very specific tastes in guys. This guy fit every single piece of criteria I'd ever thought up except one. I had no idea if he had a decent personality. Maybe he would pop up again and I could find out what he was like.

**After School**

I sighed in relief as Principal Powers released me from the detention room. That boredom had even topped the boredom I'd felt in Mr. Medulla's class. I'd have to start finding ways to amuse myself that didn't land me in detention. That, in and of itself, was excruciatingly boring.

The buses were lining up outside and kids were streaming out of the school, glad to be going home. I was rather disappointed that I hadn't seen that sexy guy again, but had already resigned myself to the idea that guys like him didn't go for girls like me.

I climbed onto the bus for home thinking about the guy. He was hot!

The bus ride home really wasn't all that long, but today it seemed to take forever. I did notice this really weird-looking crow flying next to my window the whole way home. The thing just followed me all the way to the front door of my house. It was weird beyond all belief.

I shook my head a bit and stepped into the entrance of our house. Mom was not happy to find out I'd managed to land myself in detention on the first day of school. I think she read me any number of legal documents plus a few renditions of her own laws, but I honestly don't remember as I was too busy watching that strange crow jumping around on the roof outside my window.

"Ember! Are you even listening to me?" my mom called, waving her hand in front of my face.

"Yep, yep, definitely," I said, trying not to blink and back away from her hand.

She looked at me for a long moment, then stood up and left my room.

As soon as she was gone I walked over to the window and opened it. I popped my screen out and set it behind the curtains. My parents still didn't realize I knew that the window screen could be moved.

"Why are you following me?" I demanded of the crow.

It cocked its head, looking at me with black eyes. Then it hopped down the slope of my roof and took off into the growing darkness.

I watched it go before settling down on the roof. I lay back and stared up at the night sky. The stars were supposed to be really bright tonight due to very clear weather, but I wouldn't be able to see them because of the city lights.

I watched long after darkness had fallen as one house after another went dark. The lights in my parents' room and Crystal's room went out. The sextuplets had already put out their lights. I slipped in to put out mine before returning to the rooftop.

The stars grew brighter and brighter with each light that shut off. By the time my whole block went dark I could see most of the stars. I just wished the city would turn off the street lights so the whole area would be dark, but I knew they wouldn't.

"Hey!"

I heard the greeting from the ground below me. It was whispered to keep my parents from hearing.

When I looked down I was shocked to see the hot boy from school standing on the sidewalk.

"Hi," I said. I motioned for him to come up and join me. He apparently could fly as he just floated up beside me.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Corey Black." He held out his hand.

"Ember Phoenix," I replied.

Corey smiled at me.

"I saw you in Medulla's class today," he told me. "I loved what you did to the place. Gave it some spice."

I grinned.

"Do you fly at all?" he asked me.

"Yeah, when I transform," I told him.

"Great! How about I meet you tomorrow morning in front of your house and we fly to school together?" he suggested.

I wasn't too sure. I had no idea how to get to school from my house just yet.

"I know the way," he told me, "I fly there every day. It beats taking the bus and listening to 'Ron Wilson, bus driver' every morning."

I laughed.

"So see you then?"

"Sure," I told him with a shrug.

"Perfect." He grinned and then flew off into the night.

"That was officially the weirdest thing to happen to me all day," I muttered to myself. I slipped back into my room and collapsed on the bed.


	3. In Dentention Already?

The next morning I walked into the kitchen to find Dad in a very animated conversation with Corey.

"Hi, Ember!" Corey greeted me as I appeared. "Your dad was just telling me about you."

I shot my dad a look.

"What were you telling him?" I demanded.

"Nothing horrible or embarrassing, I promise," Crystal put in, "Not that he didn't want to; I just made sure he couldn't." She demonstrated how she'd managed to "freeze" Dad's overactive mouth. He demonstrated how well he faked passing out.

I gave her a grateful look before turning to Corey.

"Can I offer you some breakfast?" I asked him.

"No thanks, your mom has already supplied me with enough food to last an entire army a year," he told me with a laugh.

"It wasn't that bad," Mom told me, pretending to be hurt. Then her fake frown turned into a grin. "He didn't complain and practically inhaled it."

Corey made a face at me. I grinned back. It was nice that the first person I brought home, or in Corey's case, met, got along with my parents.

"You ready to go?" Corey asked when I'd finished my own breakfast.

"Definitely. See ya!" I called back to my family as I grabbed my backpack and followed Corey out the door.

We walked down my street to the bridge over the river and ducked underneath it.

"How fast can you fly?" Corey asked as I shifted my backpack to transform.

"Faster than most super sonic jets," I told him, "And I can talk to you in my Shape shifted form so it won't be a trip of silence." With that I concentrated for a moment. My clothes and backpack shifted and changed, morphing into bright orange and red feathers as my body changed. My legs shortened into scaly legs with sharp talons on the ends of my toes. My arms bent and twisted into strong wings. My head was the last to shift as my nose grew hard and sharp, my upper lip melding with it and my lower lip forming the lower portion of my beak.

I looked up at a surprised Corey.

"Wow," he whispered, "that was wicked."

"It kind of freaked Mom out the first time I did that," I admitted. I shook my feathers experimentally. It had been a long time since I'd flown on them.

Corey smiled he began to hover over the dirt.

"You ready?"

"Absolutely."

I launched myself into the air as Corey darted off at an incredible pace. I followed him easily with my raptor eyes. I met up with him again as we got above the cloud cover.

He teased me and I teased back as we soared over the earth. It was strange. I felt as if I'd known him for years instead of just a few hours.

I was disappointed when we arrived at school. My whole body shivered as the transformation reversed and I became human again.

"You want to fly home together tonight?" he asked.

"Totally," I answered, "I'll see you later." I waved to him and started for my first class.

I turned to see where I was going just in time to see the leather clad body I was about to run into. Before I could tell my feet to stop, I'd hit the person.

"Sorry," I muttered quickly. I wasn't really in the mood to fight with anyone at the moment.

"Watch it," the person snarled at me, shoving me backwards.

"You watch it, buddy," I growled, shoving him back. I was irritated. I was in a perfectly good mood and Mr. Rude Asshole had to ruin it.

"Don't push your luck or I'll roast you alive," the guy standing in front of me sneered.

I put on my best bored look, sank onto one hip and examined my opponent briefly. He was tall, a good head or so taller than me but shorter than Corey. He was certainly more muscular than Corey though. His black leather jacket hugged his torso, the cuffs were unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up to reveal flames tattooed on his wrists. His dark brown, nearly black, hair hung loosely around his face, a bright red streak stood out at me.

"Let me guess," I said sarcastically, "Your power is over fire. Sorry, fire is my specialty as well. So unless you want to get your ass handed to you in the middle of school by a girl you had best back off."

His response was what I had expected from a guy like him. His hands were engulfed in flame.

"Bring it, bitch," he roared.

I grinned evilly. I hadn't wanted to fight originally, but this guy had pissed me off so much that I would be happy to hand him his ass on a flaming platter. My blood was running hot and I burst into flames, scaring the crap out of everyone around me. A ring began to form around us and a chant went up.

I raced towards him, my entire body crackling. I slammed into him with superhuman speed. He fell backwards into a wall, but was up in a second, fire balls flying past me. I dodged most of them, hitting him with a ball of fire right to the chest. He caught my next ball and tossed it right back at me. It knocked me off my feet. A fire extinguisher was suddenly being emptied in my face. The flames vanished and I was left covered in that disgusting goop.

Standing over me was the same Will Stronghold I'd met on the bus the previous day.

"Stay out of this, Stronghold," I sneered. I got to my feet and transformed for the second time that day. The boy made a grabbed for my feet as I took off. I slashed at his hand.

"I told you, stay the fuck out of my way." I let out a high-pitched shriek before swooping to attack the still flaming boy across from me. A wall of vines appeared to entangle me.

The girl called Layla gave me an apologetic look as she twisted them to attack me. I spit a ball of flame out of my mouth and the vines disintegrated. I got hit with another fire extinguisher, courtesy of Will Stronghold and fell back, shifting back to my human form. I saw the boy Will and Layla had been defending racing towards me, his arms flaming. Before he could reach me he was hit by a blast of ice, dousing his flames. I shot Crystal a grateful look.

Before the fight could go any further, Principal Powers appeared in the middle.

"Detention, now," she growled angrily. Warren was the first to follow with Will and Layla flanking him. Crystal and I slipped silently through the halls at the rear.

We entered the completely white room and were left in there on our own. I sank back into the white detention chair and closed my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ember," Layla said, "I just didn't want you to hurt Warren."

My eyes flew open.

"Warren? As in Warren Peace?" I asked her.

"What's my name to you?" Warren asked from his side of the room.

I was on my feet, anger in my eyes. Crystal was there, gripping my shoulders and pulling me back into my seat.

"Let it go, Ember," she whispered quietly, "He's not the one."

I settled back against the hard plastic and leveled a glare at Warren Peace. Gods, how I hated him. More accurately, how I hated his father. It was because of his father I was stuck in an adopted home with six disgusting "sisters."


	4. A Night of Surprises

I sighed and stretched my legs out beneath the white detention desk. It was the seventh time in the past three weeks that Warren and I had somehow ended up in detention. The reason behind our detentions usually involved a great deal of destruction of school property. Layla, Will, and Crystal now just stood on the sidelines and didn't interfere unless it looked like on of us was going to kill the other.

"Boooooooooooored………" I moaned, dropping my head to the desk with a thunk.

"It's not my fault we're in here," Warren said coldly, glaring darkly at me.

"Oh, really? Then whose is it?" I retorted sarcastically, "Please impart your bountiful wisdom to a lowly mortal such as myself."

Warren didn't say anything, just glared some more.

"You know, we really don't know each other very well. I mean, we've gotten in trouble three times for fighting over really stupid stuff, but we know nothing about each other. Well, except for the powers thing and your dad killed mine." I kept going as I tend to do when I'm nervous or bored, "But seriously, we're complete strangers. And…."

"Do you ever shut up?" Warren snapped irritably.

I fixed my incredibly bored gaze on him. "Do you ever stop sulking?"

Thankfully, Principal Powers walked in before he could reply.

"The two of you are this close to being suspended." She held up her fingers and glared at us. Neither of us said anything for a long time.

"Get out of here, and tomorrow," She fixed her angry gaze on each of us in turn, "I want no more fighting." She stalked out and I followed, Warren was close behind.

"I think she's grumpy." I said flatly to Warren.

"You think?" He stomped off, leaving me alone in the empty halls of Sky High.

"Hey!" I smiled at the familiar voice and turned to face Corey. He hugged me.

"I waited as long as I could," he told me.

"Thanks," I breathed. I let Corey slip his hand into mine. The two of us were fast becoming an item, an item of gossip that is. Every girl was jealous that the hottest guy in school was going out with me. It was kind of funny to think that I, the greatest outcast in this school (outside of certain sidekicks, of course), was going out with arguably the most popular guy in school.

"Have you been working on your flight without transformation?" Corey asked me.

"Yeah," I replied, "It's a lot harder than actually just transforming." I can sort of fly without transforming, but it is a latent power and is hard to control. Sometimes, like when my entire body is in flames, I can pull it off, but in my normal state it's kind of hard to do.

"You'll get it eventually," he told me, planting a kiss on my cheek.

We got outside to the front lawn of the school where I transformed for our trip home. Once I got into my house I changed back. Corey gave me a tight hug.

"You want to go somewhere for dinner?" he asked me.

"Sure, I'll have to double-check with the 'rents, but absolutely," I said, smiling.

"Great, I was thinking that every Friday we should go out to a restraunt of a different culture," he explained, "So tonight I was thinking Italian."

"All right, I'll ask my 'rents. What time?"

"How about 8?"

"Ok. I'll call you." I smiled at him.

He gave me a quick peck on the lips before disappearing out the door.

"Oh yeah," he said, popping his head back in the house, "Wear something sexy. Not that you don't look sexy already." He gave me a wink and vanished.

I couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't believe how lucky I'd gotten to find someone like him. He had told me everyday just how beautiful he thought I was. I was the happiest I'd ever been when I was with him.

**Later that Night**

Corey arrived promptly at 8 to pick me up. He was talking to my parents in the front room when I appeared in the door way. I tried and failed to hide a smile when he turned to look at me and his mouth fell open slightly.

"Do you like?" I asked spinning for him to see. I was wearing as dress with a black velvet corset top and a skirt of ruffled black mesh. Black silk gloves extended up my arms to my elbows and I had a black spider web necklace on.

A smile spread over his face as he stood up.

"Every guy we run across will be so jealous that they aren't out with the most beautiful girl on earth," he murmured to me.

I waved to my parents, promising to be home before 1 am. Corey led me outside to his car. It was a sweet black 2009 Stingray Corvette Concept with bright blue lightning bolts painted on the sides and hood. I stopped dead and my mouth fell open.

"Oh. My. God," I breathed, "How did you get that? I didn't even know those were on the market." I ran my gloved hand over the sleek body.

"I take it you like it," Corey said with a smirk.

"Like it? I'm practically drooling on it," I said with a stunned laugh.

"Let's go for a spin then," he replied with a grin. The doors popped open and I slid onto the smooth black leather seat. I was still in shock. I couldn't believe that Corey had a car as incredible as this. It sure beat out my rusting red 1987 Subaru.

I spent the whole ride sitting quietly, stroking the gorgeous leather seat.

Corey laughed when he looked over at me. "Careful, you'll rub a hole in the seat." He gave me a wink when I looked over at him. I laughed.

We pulled into the parking lot of an Italian restraunt I had never been to before. Corey parked and quickly opened my door. He smiled as he led me inside. It was beautiful and very elegant.

The owner of the restraunt greeted Corey personally, speaking rapidly to him in Italian. I blinked in surprise as Corey replied in perfect Italian. We were led to a private booth near the back.

"What do you think so far?" he asked me.

"I—wow," I was at a loss for words. "How do you do all this stuff? You have a car that's not even on the market; you speak flawless Italian and obviously know the owner." I just looked at him in shock.

He grinned, "The owner of this place is an old friend of my parents and a relative of mine gave me the car when he moved to Europe."

I still just stared at for a moment. Then I shook my head in amazement.

"So not only am I dating the most amazing guy in school but I'm dating the guy with a hot car and sweet connections," I said in disbelief.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"In spite of all that," I told him with a wicked grin, "I still love you."

He smirked, "I'm irresistible, I know." He kissed the back of my hand.

Dinner passed too quickly for me. The owner made sure we had the very best of everything and when the evening was over he came to speak with us personally.

Corey smiled at me over the roof of his car as we left the restraunt.

"That wasn't too bad for our first official date, was it?" he asked with a smirk as if he already knew the answer.

"It was wonderful, thank you," I whispered. His smirk turned into a genuine smile.

"You're welcome."

We pulled out of the parking lot and headed for my house. When we pulled up in front he leaned over and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek.

"So how about something a little less formal next week?" he asked.

"Like what?" I looked at him.

"Pizza?"

"You're on," I told him with a grin. I returned his kiss and hopped out of the car.

"See you Monday."

He waved as I turned back in the middle of my front walk and then he drove off.

I slipped into my house and lay back on my bed, a smile on my lips. I was in heaven.


	5. Pizza and Projects

It was Friday again and I was really excited. Corey and I were going to have pizza and then go paintballing. How awesome is that? To top it off, my parents were happy that I hadn't managed to land in detention at all the previous week. The only downer was that I'd lost my favorite steel ring. I wasn't sure where, but I really missed that thing.

When we walked into the pizza parlor who should be the first to see us but Layla? She waved for us to come over. Corey hesitated, but gave in as I dragged him over.

"Heya, Layla!" I greeted.

"Hi, Ember. We're just waiting for Crystal and her boyfriend to show up," Layla told me. "You want to join us for dinner?"

I glanced at Corey. He shrugged and smiled.

"Sure, why not?" Will pulled two more chairs over to the long table for Corey and me. I glanced at the three empty chairs across from me, but didn't say anything.

Crystal showed up a few minutes after we did with kid I'd seen briefly in history. She introduced him as James, a kid with power over lasers.

We all ordered some pizza and started talking and laughing. Corey tended to keep to himself, but found that difficult to do when this kid that glows kept talking to him. It turned out that I got along really well with everyone, even Will whose hand still sported a small scar from my first fight with Warren. I hid a smirk at the memory of that fight.

"Isn't that the scar you gave Will during your fight with Warren?" Corey whispered. I started to nod when the door opened and someone else joined the table.

"Speak of the devil," I muttered. I leveled a glare at Warren Peace as he settled into the chair across the table from me.

He did his level best to ignore me for quite a while. I finally just talked myself into chilling out and not attempting to kill him, especially since Crystal was actually laughing with him.

At the end of the evening Corey and I said goodbye to everyone and headed out. I was just getting into the car when I heard someone calling my name.

"Hey, Ember!" I turned around to see none other than Warren Peace standing not six feet from me. He looked slightly angry and slightly embarrassed. I found his expression highly amusing.

"Yes, Mr. Peace?" I just looked at him. For a moment we just stood there, and then he held out his fist and opened it palm up.

Sitting in his hand was my missing ring.

"I found it sitting on the floor in Mr. Medulla's class," he muttered as I took it.

"Thanks," I murmured, "Just out of curiosity, how'd you know it was mine?"

"I've had the pattern imprinted in my jaw enough times to figure out whose it was," he told me.

I just looked at him for a moment. He flashed a smile in my direction, albeit a very sarcastic smile, and left.

"Come on, Ember," Corey called from inside the car. I slid in next to him and we took off.

**That Monday**

I really do hate history. I'm not entirely why we are required to learn half the things we do. Does it honestly matter if Tigerman was bitten by a radioactive tiger or exposed to radiation and then bitten?

"Today," Ms. Angel said, "I will be pairing you up with someone to work on a project with. This project is going to last the rest of the school year and is fifty percent of your grade. Should you choose not to take part in it or cannot learn to get along with the person you are assigned with, you will fail this class. I'm sure you all know what that would mean."

We all groaned. History was a required class for graduation. If we failed we didn't graduate and would have to repeat our entire senior year.

I hit my head on my desk. There was only one person I actually wanted to work with and that was Corey. I'd say Crystal would be good or even Layla or Magenta, but they all had history the period after me. So that left only Corey.

Ms. Angel started pairing off people and I got more and more nervous as the number of available classmates diminished rapidly. Soon only four of us were left: Corey, Warren, this drop-dead gorgeous girl who could enchant objects for any purpose, and me.

"Anyone but Warren," I muttered over and over again. I had every finger and toe crossed that I would get Corey.

"Miss Phoenix," Ms. Angel paused and considered her choices. I prayed harder. "Yes, I think you'll do very nicely with Mr. Peace."

I let out a frustrated growl and slammed my forehead against the desk. This year was not shaping up the way I'd hoped.

"Relax, Em," Corey whispered in my ear, "You'll be fine." He rubbed my shoulders gently until I looked up at him.

"If he gives you any trouble, let me know and I'll take him out during Save the Citizen," he told me with a grin.

"I'd like you all to go sit with your partner and that will be your new assigned seat for the rest of the year," Ms. Angel announced. There was a general flurry of motion as people began to move.

I glanced over at Warren. He wasn't moving. In fact he didn't even look conscious. I growled in annoyance, picked up my bag, and stalked back to where my new partner was sitting, sound asleep. I piled up every heavy book within my reach, lifted them over my head, and dropped them right next to a sleeping Warren's ear.

The whole class froze as the incredibly loud noise reverberated throughout the room.

Warren awoke with a jolt and swore loudly. He glared up at me. I smirked and sat down in the chair before scooting it as far from him as the table would allow.

"What the hell is your problem?" he demanded angrily.

"As much as I hate to be the one to tell you this," I said, "You and I are stuck as partners and tablemates for the remainder of the school year. Seeing as how our entire grade rides on whatever this project is about you and I have no choice."

"That's great," Warren said sarcastically, "And why did you need to wake up to say that?"

"You were taking up too much room," I told him simply. And thus began a long and glorious friendship. Note the sarcasm in that statement. Actually I was closer to killing my self than trying to make friends with Warren. What can I say? I hold a grudge for a long time.


	6. Assignment Number One

I sat straddling the backwards chair,my elbows resting on the wooden library table, glaring at my history partner. He was in a similar pose and looking less than happy. Neither of us were terribly thrilled at the move our teacher had made in placing us together.

Our current assignment was a find-out-more-things-than-you-could-ever-possibly-want-to-know-about-your-partner assignment. When I'd read through the questions with Corey we'd burst out laughing at some of them. Did Ms. Angel really think we were going to tell our partner, and in some cases, our arch enemy, our weakness? I understood that she wanted us to get used to working with other supers, that's what we were all training to do, but this was ridiculous.

"Hey, guys!" Will appeared beside us and sat down at the table. "You doing the homework for Ms. Angel?"

Warren just scowled at the piece of paper in front of him.

"I'll take that as a 'yes and no,'" Will said with a laugh.

"We're getting nowhere on this paper," Warren grumbled.

I rolled my eyes, grabbed the paper and scribbled a few words under the heading of "Getting to Know Your Partner."

Will tilted his head to read what I'd written when I shoved the paper back in front of Warren.

"'I refused to be very helpful so my partner got pissed and wrote this on my paper before she left,'" Will read out loud.

Before either of them looked up, I'd grabbed my bag and started walking out of the library. I wasn't going to waste my lunch hour on something this dumb.

I found a nice spot out on the school lawn for lunch. Corey was working with his partner today so I was stuck eating lunch on my own. That is, unless I wanted to eat with Warren's friends, which was where Crystal typically ate.

I slumped against a tree trunk and glanced at the wrinkled paper in my hand. It was supposed to be filled with Warren's answers by now. Instead it was completely blank.

With an evil smirk I started scribbling in random answers.

"Favorite color: pink," I muttered, "Favorite band: Backstreet Boys, favorite cartoon character: Winnie the Pooh." I paused when I reached the question about Warren's weakness. I chewed on the pen for a minute.

"Aha!" I exclaimed loudly, "Greatest weakness: ticklish and is obsessed with Barbies."

"You should at least put something semi-believable down on paper," a voice said from just above me.

I looked up to see Warren standing against the side of my tree.

"Well, do you have any helpful hints on filling this thing out then?" I asked, glaring up at him.

He sighed and sank down next to me. I could see that he'd scratched out the words I'd written at the top of his paper. He took the paper I'd been writing on from me, scratched out my answers, and handed it back to me.

"My favorite color is red," he said as he picked up his piece of paper and propped it up against his knees.

I stared at him for a moment and scratched it down.

"Cerulean blue," I muttered finally.

Warren gave me a really weird look.

"What? Can't a fire girl like blue?" I asked defiantly.

"That's cool," he said quickly, "I just had pegged you for a black kind of girl."

"Yeah, well."

"So, next question," he said, "Favorite band is Linkin Park."

"No kidding?" I stared at him. "I love them, but my favorite is still Emilie Autumn and the Bloody Crumpets."

"I've never heard of Emilie Autumn," Warren said flatly.

"Psh, that doesn't shock me. She's not really a major thing with guys," I said easily, smiling as I thought of a few of her lyrics.

Warren didn't answer and moved onto the next question.

"Favorite cartoon character is Mushu," he muttered as quietly as he could.

I decided I liked the way things were going and didn't bug him about Mushu. I mean, Mushu is cool.

"The Wicked Queen from Snow White, for me," I told him.

By mutual agreement we both skipped over the weakness question and finished the rest of the questions quickly.

When the papers were finished we looked at each other.

"Sooooooo, what do we do about this one?" I pointed to the skipped question.

"Just say it's water," he said with a shrug. "We're both Pyros so it would be logical weakness for both of us."

I didn't tell him that I lived with six Aquas and an Ice. Thankfully no one had ever realized that I lived with the sextuplets and Crystal. That would ruin the belief I'd been cultivating that I was vulnerable to any form of water.

I scribbled in the final answer and stood up.

"Well, it was nice chatting with you," I said brightly.

Warren looked at me, slightly creeped out by my sudden change in mood. That all changed with my next words.

"Let's not do this again sometime soon," I finished.

I waved and turned toward the school as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. One part of the project done, only 163 more to go.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter is so short! I've got certain events I want to happen in the story and so I'm inching my way along to fit them all in. I'll update as soon as I can!**


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